The present invention relates to a method and system for learning a foreign language by first switching-off subconscious translation into a native language with the help of special drills consisting of simultaneous: reading of a lesson in a foreign language; listening to the recording of the same lesson; and repeating the lesson.
Learning a foreign language in adulthood (i.e. age twelve or older) is a difficult task for most people. Prevailing methods of language instruction are typically characterised by one common feature, i.e. comparison between the native language and a foreign language. Even in cases when instructions are given exclusively in a foreign language, e.g. so-called direct method or total immersion method used in Berlitz schools for more than hundred years, adults in most cases subconsciously translate foreign language into their native language. In other words, most adults encounter the difficulty in learning a foreign language while using conventional methods because they try to add a foreign language to their native language and labor under a number of misconceptions:
1.) Adults try to use the knowledge of a foreign language grammar which they have acquired as explanations in the native language. But this is practically impossible since there is no time for this kind of analysis during automatic fluent speech in a foreign language.
2.) Adults first formulate the sentence in the native language, then try to translate it quickly into a foreign language whereas they try to perform a grammatical analysis before attempting to speak the construed sentences in a foreign language. This formulation is practically impossible since, first, there is no time for this kind of analysis, and second, speech is a subconscious process that does not provide either time nor means for conscious activity.
The literature of the art of learning foreign languages documents various methods, beginning with the oldest, most traditional onexe2x80x94the translation methodxe2x80x94to more modern ones, such as the audio-lingual method, the direct method and the total immersion method. The translation method is a classical language teaching method based on logical analysis of the language, memorization of complicated rules, explained in the native language, and conscious application of said rules in speech. According to this method adults attempt to formulate the sentence first in the native language, then translate it to a foreign language trying to analyze at the same time the grammatical structure of a sentence. For centuries this classical method was considered as a logical method of learning a foreign language by adults. Although this method is notoriously inefficient, it is the most widespread method used in most schools and colleges.
The audio-lingual method is aimed at teaching language skills in the order of listening, speaking, reading and writing. To this end, material is presented in a spoken form, and the emphasis in the early years is on the language as it is spoken in everyday situations, whereas reading and writing at this stage play supportive roles. At advanced levels, students are introduced to more literary forms of expression. At all stages, listening and speaking are done separately so that the main barrier in acquiring a foreign languagexe2x80x94subconscious translation into the native languagexe2x80x94is still in place and that is why although this method exhibits better efficiency in comparison to the translation method, especially for teenage learners, it has not found widespread application among adult learners of foreign languages.
The direct method attempts to develop in learners direct association of words and phrases with objects and actions without the use of the native language either by the teacher or the student. The ultimate goal according to this method is to develop the ability to think in the language terms, whether one is conversing, reading or writing. This method requires professional teachers who are trained to use the direct method in a class or group environment and is not practical for self-instructional study by adults. The direct method was successfully used in Israel for acquiring the Hebrew language during the influx of immigrants but did not reach the main stream of methods used in schools, colleges and language schools of the USA and Europe.
The total immersion method basically involves setting up informal situations where students communicate with each other and their teacher, and through this communication they acquire a new language. According to this method, a relationship of acceptance and equality between students and teacher, and among the students must exist. Trust, belief and confidence are key words. Since the student is not taught explicitly but learns through experience, the total immersion method is an active inductive approach to language acquisition. Implementation of this method also requires specially trained teachers and could be used in a class or group environment but is not practical for self-instructional study by adults. The total immersion method was first introduced by Benedectin Berlitz in 1892 when, after two weeks of vacation from a theological school, where he taught French language, he noticed remarkable progress in his class because his substitute teacher was a Frenchman without a knowledge of English. In spite of more than a century of application, the total immersion technique did not become universally used since it is not applicable for self-study and does not give an adult an instrument for overcoming the main barrier in learning a foreign languagexe2x80x94the subconscious translation into the native language. According, in everyday life beyond the language school, where the total immersion method is used, a learner usually reverts back to his or her old habit of subconscious translation.
Another known statistical factxe2x80x94if an adult lives in a foreign language environment, he or she becomes more or less fluent in the foreign language after N years, where N=age divided by 6 (age/6). So that a 30 year-old adult will speak a language in 5 years of natural immersion, and a 60 year-old adult after 10 years of total immersion. This explains why the total immersion method, successfully used in prestigious schools in many countries of the world for more than hundred years, still is far from the leading position among language acquisition methods.
The market of language learning further offers several audio-visual courses which are basically lessons filmed in live action. These courses teach all four language skills and make extensive use of dialogues as is done in a classroom. Many of these courses are used as a supplement to the class curriculum.
The prior art methods exhibit the following deficiencies, among others:
1.) They do not furnish an explanation to the problem: why most adults encounter difficulties in acquiring a foreign language.
2.) They do not furnish an instrument for adults to kick the habit of subconscious translation into and from the native language and to stop the fruitless attempts of adding a foreign language to the native language.
3.) They do not explain and use in acquisition methods the principle that people, who learn a second language in adulthood and speak it fluently, possess a second independent foreign language speech center in the brain. The fact that bilingual adults have two language centers in the brain was confirmed by scientists from Cornell University Medical College and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
The results of their investigations were published in the journal Nature (Jul. 10, 1997, vol. 388, p. 171).
4.) They do not explain to adults that the mechanism of speech in the native language and in a foreign language should be the samexe2x80x94automatic, i.e., subconscious expression of images or code language of our thoughts.
5.) They do not explain to adults that attempts to memorize foreign words as translations into the native language are fruitless because while conversing in a foreign language there is no time for conscious construction of sentences in a foreign language and retrieval of memorized words from memory.
Furthermore, the methods described in the above art do not take into account the fact that speech is a mechanical process that is initiated by our thoughts and is controlled subconsciously. We use our conscious thoughts to start the process, but speech itself is executed automatically. When adults speak fluently in a foreign language they do not have time to perform any kind of linguistic analysis or to make comparisons with expressions they use in their native language.
The scientific discovery of a group of scientists from Cornell University Medical College and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center helps us to understand why adults have difficulties in learning a foreign language. Babies who learn two languages simultaneously, and apparently effortlessly, activate a single brain region while speaking two languages. But people who learn a second language in adulthood possess two such brain regions, one for each language. The xe2x80x9cNew York Timesxe2x80x9d newspaper popularized this discovery on Jul. 15, 1997 in an article titled: xe2x80x9cWhen an adult adds a language, it""s one brain, two systemsxe2x80x9d. The language teaching method of this invention implements this discovery into a practical method for forming and utilizing the language speech center in the brain. It gives an adult an instrument to turn off subconscious translation into his/her native language and to form a new language center.
More specifically, the invention relates to natural language acquisition method that does not require intervention or control by the memory: a foreign language is acquired not through memorization information about the language but through experiencing a foreign language. The system allows users unfamiliar with the language to progressively build an active vocabulary of foreign language words and phrases based on training a new link of word or word blocks with image or a situation.
If the language course does not explain to the students that subconscious translation into and from the native language is the main obstacle in acquiring a foreign language, then the students will face a major block on the route of mastering a foreign language. Moreover, adult students will revert to the subconscious translation into and from the native tongue even under conditions when a foreign language is learned by direct or immersion techniques and all explanations are given in a foreign language.
The language teaching method of the present invention provides students with a tool to kick the habit of understanding a foreign language by translating it into a native language. It is achieved by performing simultaneously three actions: reading, listening to the recorded text, and vocally repeating it with the speaker. Through multiple repetition of this simultaneous drill with increasing speed, a natural link between image and expression in a foreign language is formed in the subconscious. Subsequently, a student can utter corresponding word blocks in a foreign language automatically when the appropriate situation arises in real life. And that person will do so without conscious effort in the same way he does in his/her native language.
After graduating the conventional language courses that belong to the translation method students acquire a foreign language as information-based knowledge. As a result, when speaking after each foreign word they make an unnatural stop because they have to comprehend (i.e., to translate into the native language) the meaning of the word used in this particular sentence. That is why such a student cannot form the language speech center and speak fluently or without mistakes.
Using the teaching method of the present invention a student acquires foreign language words that are linked directly to the images or situations. For this reason, students make less mistakes in a foreign language, they speak without pauses between the words because they speak without thinking but rather by building a sentence from the word blocks acquired through multiple repetitions of the lessons.
Within the conservative known systems, learning a foreign language is based on information+analysis+memorization. Very few people can accomplish this because it is against our physiology. In our native language we don""t recall words from memory nor make grammatical analysis of our speech. In other words, we first learn how to speak fluently in a foreign language. After acquiring an auditory xe2x80x9cring-a-bell-grammarxe2x80x9d that will allow one to speak practically without mistakes, the student may start learning technical aspects of the foreign language grammar.
Accordingly, the method and system of the present invention provides a language acquisition system which allows the user to interact with the target language directly, using basically a one-language approach. The first part of the teaching method of the present invention, the Demo Kit, helps an adult student to develop the habit of simultaneously performing three actionsxe2x80x94reading, listening and speaking the recorded textxe2x80x94first in the native language, and second in a foreign language. A student starts using this new ability in experiencing the foreign language in one-language environment created by lessons and drills of the generic textbook of the present invention that contains all lessons and drills in the foreign language of your choice.
Multiple, simultaneous repetition of the text after the speaker must be accompanied by writing down any words that a learner can recognize and write. Such a method of simultaneously writing down any words, while listening, and pronouncing the text (without stopping the tape) develops the skill of automatic correct writing in the target language.
In this regard, the present invention allows the user to progress in the building of an active vocabulary in a natural way as it is done in one""s native language. According to the present invention, the student subconsciously assigns to the unknown word a certain image (or meaning) that is corroborated by all other words in the context and is validated by the student""s subsequent experience.
More specifically, the invention in its preferred embodiment uses simultaneous reading, listening and repeating as a unique drill to form a foreign language speech center in the brain and makes one able to speak automatically without fruitless efforts to remember the grammar or words needed to express one""s thoughts or feelings.
The invention also provides the user with means to form the internal-ear-grammar or ring-a-bell grammar that sends us a subconscious signal when we make a mistake because we speak by the association principle using our active word blocks as speech building blocks.
From the foregoing example of practical implementation it will be seen that the present invention provides a highly effective method of acquiring a foreign language without overloading ourselves with fruitless attempts to memorize as many foreign words and phrases as possible. Those attempts are fruitless because there is little correlation between the number of foreign words that a student is capable to link to corresponding words in his/her native language and the ability to speak fluently in a foreign language.
The simultaneous reading, listening and repetition results in the formation of a new link image=word block in a foreign language, that after multiple repetition becomes engrained in the new language speech center in the brain so that the next time a student/learner encounters a similar situation, the corresponding word block in a foreign language is pronounced by the learner automatically in the same way that it occurs in the native language.
The present invention relates to a method and system for learning a foreign language by first switching-off subconscious translation into a native language with the help of special drills consisting of simultaneous: reading of a lesson in a foreign language; listening to the recording of the same lesson; and repeating the lesson. The method and system is preferably comprised of the step of simultaneously listening to a lesson, repeating the lesson aloud and writing any words that a learner recognizes and can write down. By precluding conscious control over writing the learner develops the skill of automatically correct writing in the target language; this skill is similar to the skill which an adult uses subconsciously in his/her native language. According to the method all, four language skills, (i.e., reading, listening, speaking and writing) are acquired simultaneously in a natural way which corresponds to the brain physiology changes of an adult. The method further precludes comparison between the separate words of the native language and the target language, thus overcoming the main barrier in the formation of a new language center in the brain since bilingual information cannot be registered by the new language center in the brain. To avoid the ubiquitous misconceptionxe2x80x94learning of a foreign language is only possible through translation methodxe2x80x94an adult student according to the teaching method of the present invention is gradually introduced to the one-language method of acquisition of a foreign language. The present invention relates to a method for learning a foreign language and, more particularly, to a method for learning a foreign language by first switching-off subconscious translation into the native language and second by developing a link of an image=word or word block in the target language, and third by precluding comparison between the separate words and the word blocks in the native language and a foreign language.
First, using a xe2x80x9cDemo Kitxe2x80x9d containing an introduction to the method of the present invention and a few lessons from the text book that are translated into student""s native language, the student is familiarized with the learning method (i.e., the method of the present invention is first practiced in the native language so that the learner becomes somewhat accustomed to the learning technique; i.e., the simultaneous listening, reading and speaking). Second, students start using the generic book that contains all lessons and drills of the present invention that are given only in a foreign language and is supplemented with a pictorial context-type dictionary.
The language acquiring method and system of the present invention makes learning a foreign language simple since it gives the brain the right opportunity to form the language speech center and speak automatically without thinking. To achieve this goal students can use the printed version of the self-instructional book or a set of CDs for computer-aided learning. The computer version of the present invention uses programmed pages that contain the Demo Kit introduction and drills and the foreign language lessons and drills as well as a pictorial context-type dictionary. The programmed pages can be in various formats such as known word processing formats, known graphical formats, HTML or other web-based formats. In a preferred embodiment, the lesson pages will have links to translations and/or context-type dictionary passages. The computer-aided version may be run locally on a personal computer (PC), a networked version, or web server based via a web browser.
The method of the present invention is preferably comprised of:
a. providing a recording of a predetermined phrase in a predetermined foreign language;
b. providing a lesson book containing written text corresponding to the predetermined phrase in the predetermined foreign language; and
c. providing instructions to the student to listen to the recording of the predetermined phrase and to simultaneously read the written text corresponding to the predetermined phrase in the predetermined foreign language found in the lesson book while simultaneously speaking out loud the predetermined phrase in the foreign language.
In the preferred embodiment, the recording has multiple, consecutive, recordings of the predetermined phrase in the predetermined foreign language.
The method of the present invention is also preferably comprised of:
providing further instructions to repeatedly listen to the predetermined phrase in the predetermined foreign language while simultaneously reading the written text corresponding to the predetermined phrase in the predetermined foreign language found in the lesson book and simultaneously speaking out loud the predetermined phrase in the predetermined foreign language. The present invention also preferably comes with instructions to write as many words found in the predetermined phrase in the foreign language while simultaneously listening to the predetermined phrase while simultaneously speaking the predetermined phrase out loud. A supplement is preferably provided which lists foreign words found in the predetermined phrase in the foreign language, and where the supplement also provides a translation of the foreign word in a predetermined language. The supplement also provides a use of the at least one foreign word in a predetermined sentence and wherein the supplement also provides a translation of the predetermined sentence in a predetermined native language.
The present invention may also be implemented via a computer-aided system having an audio output device, a processor, and display having a display screen. The computeraided system operates by:
a. providing a digital recording of a predetermined phrase in a predetermined foreign language, wherein the recording is capable of being played out loud to a student through the audio output device;
b. displaying a lesson in text on the display screen, the lesson corresponding to the predetermined phrase in the predetermined foreign language; and
c. providing instructions to the student to listen to the recording of the predetermined phrase output through the audio output device and to simultaneously read the text corresponding to the predetermined phrase on the display screen while simultaneously speaking out loud the predetermined phrase in the foreign language.
All the drills contained in the written version of the present method may also be implemented via the computer-aided system of the present invention.
In addition to the features mentioned above, objects and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent upon a reading of the following description.